A few years ago, right after graduating law school, I had the opportunity to interview for a position with a law firm that sounded promising on paper. Very shortly after walking in the door, however, the hiring manager’s attitude was leaving me cold. When he told me he thought that all new graduates were so desperate for jobs that I would surely accept any paltry offer they condescended to make to me, I made up my mind to work someplace else. I knew I could never stand to work with someone so disrespectful and obnoxious.

When jobs are scarce, sometimes job seekers do start to feel a little desperate—even if they don’t admit it to anyone but themselves. A few rejections from potential employers can leave our heads spinning, and might convince us to overlook red flags that pop up during interviews that could give us important information about the potential employer, and whether they would be a good fit for us, or whether we’d be better off to just keep on looking. Here are some other red flags to look for during an interview.

1. Illegal interview questions.

It’s possible that a hiring manager might just be well-intended and chatty, and a question like “Are you married?” might pop out of their mouths before they remember that they are conducting an interview rather than milling around a cocktail party. At the very least, however, illegal interview questions demonstrate that the hiring manager is unaware of the law, careless, or with an inappropriate intent. You may question whether you wish to work for a company based on this lack of propriety.

2. Signs of emotional upheaval in the office.

Sometimes interview questions give away of great deal of information about the working environment you would likely face if you accepted the job. It’s perfectly normal for a hiring manager to ask you how you have dealt with difficult customers in the past, especially if contact with the public would be typical for the position. If you are asked during an interview how you would deal with an irate supervisor or coworker, or if you are flatly told that you would need to be careful to stay on someone’s “good side,” this suggests that there is at least one emotionally abusive personality in the office, and the hiring manager wants to know if you can walk on eggshells sufficiently to keep from setting that person off. You might have great skill in working with such people—but what you must ask yourself is, do you really want to?

3. Signs that some people just can’t be pleased.

If the person who formerly held the position you’re seeking failed miserably at fulfilling the job duties, the hiring manager may mention one or two of her mistakes to explain what you would need to be particularly careful of in carrying out the duties of the position. If the entire interview consists of the hiring manager blasting this person behind her back, however, this may be a job you should think twice about. An overly critical atmosphere may mean that no one can be successful in this role, simply because nobody is perfect enough to live up to someone’s impossible standards. And if the hiring manager is complaining so freely about a former employee, there may come a day when they will be publicly blasting you as well.

Ancillary to this are complaints from the hiring manager that they “just can’t seem to keep anyone” in the position. It’s possible that the employer has had an unlucky string of unqualified employees in that position—but it’s more likely that the employer can’t keep people in the job because they are not treated well.

4. The written job description bears no resemblance to what you hear in the interview.

Of course, no job description contains all of the duties of a position, and there will be many things that come up during (or even after) the interview that you may not have realized would be incidental to the position. However, if the job description plainly describes an office manager position and the interviewer describes a receptionist job, consider carefully whether you really want to work for an employer that would be so deceptive just to trick people into applying.

5. “Baiting” or argumentative tactics.

Sometimes an over-zealous hiring manager may attempt to push your buttons in order to see how you function under pressure. This tactic is inappropriate, unprofessional, and simply rude. Would you really want to work for someone who is so manipulative and impolite?

Most importantly, listen to your instincts when interviewing with a potential employer. If your gut (and some evidence) tell you that the job would be a miserable disaster, keep looking until you’ve found a position you can live with.



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